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            In This Section
        Environment Overview
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                Additional Information on Section 4(f) and Programmatic Evaluations
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                Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report/Statement: California HSR Fresno to Bakersfield
    

    
    
          Effective July 23, 2019, this project is assigned to the California High Speed Rail Authority to complete the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process on behalf of FRA, pursuant to the Surface Transportation Project Delivery Program (STPD Program), 23 USC 327.

			*****Below is archived web content regarding this project.***

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) and FRA are circulating for public review the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) for the Fresno to Bakersfield High-Speed Rail (HSR) Project Section.

The Authority and FRA have prepared this Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS to supplement the Final EIR/EIS for the Fresno to Bakersfield Project Section of the California High-Speed Rail Project. When the Final EIR/EIS was certified by the Authority in May 2014, and a preferred alternative was identified, the Authority elected to defer an alignment decision in the Bakersfield area. However, FRA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) in June 2014, approving the preferred alternative identified in the Final EIR/EIS in its entirety.

This Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS identifies a new alternative: the Fresno to Bakersfield Locally Generated Alternative (F-B LGA) that would provide an alternative alignment for a 23-mile segment of the Fresno to Bakersfield Project Section, between the City of Shafter and the City of Bakersfield. The F-B LGA was developed in collaboration with the City of Bakersfield, the City of Shafter and Kern County, as well as local residents, stakeholders and regulatory agencies.

This limited scope Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS evaluates the potential effects of and compares the following two alternatives: the alternative selected in May 2014 and the F-B LGA. The May 2014 alternative refers to a comparable section of the alignment to the F-B LGA that had been approved in the Final EIR/EIS. The May 2014 alternative includes a station located at the corner of Truxtun Avenue, Union Avenue and State Road 204; and a maintenance of infrastructure facility located along the alignment just north of Bakersfield and 7th Standard Road. The F-B LGA provides an alignment to the east of the May 2014 alternative, between Poplar Avenue, in Shafter, and Oswell Street, in Bakersfield. The F-B LGA includes a station located at the intersection of State Route 204 and F Street, and a maintenance of infrastructure facility located along the F-B LGA alignment in northern Shafter, between Fresno Avenue and Poplar Avenue.

The EPA Notice of Availability for the Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS is currently available on the Federal Register.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Surface Transportation Board served as cooperating agencies on this Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS. The Corps is the agency responsible for issuing permits for discharge of dredged or fill material within Waters of the U. S. The Surface Transportation Board is an independent adjudicatory and economic-regulatory agency charged by Congress with resolving railroad rate and service disputes and reviewing proposed railroad mergers.

Public Hearing

Public Hearing on the Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS will be held:

In Bakersfield on December 19, 2017, from 3 pm to 8 pm at the Bakersfield Marriott Hotel (801 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 93301)

Comments

The official comment period for the Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS begins Thursday, November 9, 2017, and ends Tuesday, January 16, 2018. There are several ways to submit comments, including:

Online via the Authority’s web comment form
	Via email at Fresno_Bakersfield@hsr.ca.gov
	By mail:
	Attn: Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS for the Fresno to Bakersfield Project Section
		California High-Speed Rail Authority
		770 L Street, Suite 620 MS-1
		Sacramento, CA 95814
	Leaving verbal comments on the direct line for the Fresno to Bakersfield Project Section at:
	(888) 481-2772
	Submitting public comments at the December 19, 2017, hearing in Bakersfield, CAFresno to Bakersfield Draft Supplemental EIR/EIS documents for download:

The following documents are available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and are downloadable at no cost. (Note: many of these files are very large and could take up to several minutes to download.) Technical appendices that are part of the project record for the Fresno to Bakersfield Project Section are available on the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s website.

Summary Materials

Document
			SizeExecutive Summary (English)
			2,099 KBExecutive Summary (Spanish)
			2,743 KB

Volume I: Report

Document
			SizeCover
			218 KBFact Sheet
			103 KBPreface
			223 KBSignature Page
			901 KBSummary
			1,279 KBTable of Contents
			404 KBTitle Page
			70 KBChapter 1 - Project Purpose, Need, and Objectives
			567 KBChapter 2 - F-B LGA Description
			11,089 KBChapter 3.1 - Affected Environment, Environmental Consequences, and Mitigation Measures: Introduction
			258 KBChapter 3.2 - Transportation
			11,414 KBChapter 3.3 - Air Quality and Global Climate Change
			1,901 KBChapter 3.4 - Noise and Vibration
			3,531 KBChapter 3.5 - Electromagnetic Fields and Electromagnetic Interference
			753 KBChapter 3.6 - Public Utilities and Energy
			3,951 KBChapter  3.7 - Biological Resources and Wetlands
			10,733 KBChapter 3.8 - Hydrology and Water Resources
			1,596 KBChapter  3.9 - Geology, Soils, Seismicity, and Paleontological Resources
			6,018 KBChapter 3.10 - Hazardous Materials and Wastes
			6,850  KBChapter 3.11 - Safety and Security
			1,541 KBChapter 3.12 - Socioeconomics and Communities
			3,951 KBChapter 3.13 - Station Planning, Land Use, and Development
			1,973 KBChapter 3.14 - Agricultural Land
			2,520 KBChapter 3.15 - Parks, Recreation, and Open Space
			1,144 KBChapter 3.16 - Aesthetics and Visual Resources
			20,671 KBChapter 3.17 - Cultural Resources
			7,211 KBChapter  3.18 - Regional Growth
			420 KBChapter  3.19 - Cumulative Impacts
			1,049 KBChapter 4 - Section 4(F) / 6(F) Evaluation
			8,121 KBChapter 5 - Environmental Justice
			5,081 KBChapter 6 - Project Costs and Operations
			224 KBChapter 7 - Other CEQA / NEPA Considerations
			148 KBChapter  8 - Comparison of Alternatives and Identification of the Preferred Alternative
			720 KBChapter 9 - Public and Agency Involvement
			548 KBChapter 10 - EIR-EIS Distribution
			392 KBChapter 11 - List of Preparers
			283 KBChapter 12 - References and Sources Used in Document Preparation
			810 KBChapter 13 - Glossary of Terms
			345 KBChapter  14 - Index
			393 KBChapter 15 - Acronyms and Abbreviations
			198 KB

Volume II: Technical Appendices

Document
			SizeCover
			187 KBTitle Page
			37 KBAppendix 1-A - Business Plans
			248 KBAppendix 1-B - Benefits
			437 KBAppendix 2-A - Road Crossings
			396 KBAppendix 2-B - Railroad Crossings
			438 KBAppendix 2-C - Operations and Service Plan Summaries
			247 KBAppendix 2-D - Applicable Design Standards
			292 KBAppendix 2-E - Summary of Requirements for Operations and Maintenance Facilities
			293 KBAppendix 2-F - Interim Use
			291 KBAppendix 2-G - May 2014 Project Mitigation Monitoring and Enforcement Plan and Amendments
			4,303 KBAppendix 2-H - Functions of Impact Avoidance and Minimization Measures
			591 KBAppendix 3.1-A - Parcels within HSR Footprint
			18,181 KBAppendix 3.3-A - Potential Impact from Induced Wind
			315 KBAppendix 3.3-B - Draft Federal General Conformity Determination
			293 KBAppendix 3.4-A - Noise and Vibration
			293 KBAppendix 3.4-B - Noise and Vibration Measurements
			1,648 KBAppendix 3.4-C - Noise and Vibration Mitigation Guidelines
			432 KBAppendix 3.5-A - Technical Study: Pre-Construction Electromagnetic Measurement Survey
			295 KBAppendix 3.6-A - Existing Plus Project Conditions Energy Analysis
			294 KBAppendix 3.6-B - Water Usage Analysis Technical Memorandum
			296 KBAppendix 3.6-C - Energy Analysis Memorandum
			293 KBAppendix 3.7-A – Special-Status Species and Observed Habitats
			293 KBAppendix 3.7-B - Comparison of Impacts on Biological Resources by Alternative
			437 KBAppendix 3.7-C - Watershed Evaluation Report Parts 1 through 4
			296 KBAppendix 3.8-A - Water Bodies Crossed by Project Alternatives
			351 KBAppendix 3.8-B - Summary of Hydraulic Modeling
			294 KBAppendix 3.11-A - Safety and Security Data
			293 KBAppendix 3.11-B - Airport Obstructions
			292 KBAppendix 3.12-A – Residential, Business, and Mobile Home Relocation Assistance Brochures
			294 KBAppendix 3.12-B - Effects on School District Funding and Transportation Bus Routes
			747 KBAppendix 3.12-C - Effects on Children’s Health and Safety
			582 KBAppendix 3.13-A - Land Use Plans, Goals, and Policies
			537 KBAppendix 3.14-A - Results and Findings of Land Evaluation and Site Assessment Pursuant to the Farmland Protection Policy Act
			1,522 KBAppendix 3.14-B - Remnant Parcel Analysis
			3,198 KBAppendix 3.14-C - High Speed Train Noise Disturbance on Grazing Lands
			296 KBAppendix 3.17-A - Programmatic Agreement
			292 KBAppendix 3.19-A - Planned and Potential Projects
			834 KBAppendix 3.19-B - Planned Transportation Projects
			686 KBAppendix 5-A - Operating Cost Memorandum
			294 KBAppendix 8-A - Analysis of the Comparable Section (May 2014 Project)
			15,984 KB

Volume III: Alignment Plans

Document
			SizeSection A - Alignment Plans
			24,683 KBSection B - Composite Utility Plans
			26,973 KBSection C - HSR Elevated Structures Plans
			20,936 KBSection D - Maintenance of Infrastructure Facility Plans, Profiles and Cross Sections
			7,854 KBSection E - Roadway and Roadway Structure Plans
			34,528 KBSection F - Station Drawings
			4,049 KBSection G - Systems Schematic, Traction Power, Train Control and Communications Site and Access Roadway Plans
			44,872 KB
              
      
    
          Last updated: Tuesday, March 10, 2020 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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